Faith, hope but no clarity in Ofcom's TV ad rules

Most people, if asked to name the two things they most desire, would probably choose 1) certain knowledge of an afterlife with a loving Creator and 2) slim, undimpled thighs. Advertising tries to understand people's deepest desires and then tell them about products and services that fulfil them. Some desires are simpler to satisfy than others; the two above are about as hard as it gets. And two advertisers trying to answer those needs have recently made the news.

The Advertising Standards Authority has just upheld a complaint about the press ads for Boots Super Slim No 7 Anti-Cellulite Balm because the evidence to support their claims was too dependent on self-assessment. We should all feel reassured that claims made in ads have to provide robust research to substantiate their sales pitch.

In Boots' case, there was some objective stuff going on, using tape measures, but they also made great play of what the users themselves believed to have been the product's efficacy. Therein lay the problem. Boots' defence was that 89% of the sample who tried the product believed that it delivered noticeable results, but the ASA considered that, as 63% of the placebo group reported equal efficacy, self-assessment was too fragile a substantiation. Cosmetics are more about wish-fulfilment than most products so you can't trust consumers' impressions.

Selling hope is bread and butter to advertisers. Our messages are almost always upbeat. Advertising people have to take up hobbies to vent their foul tempers - kick-boxing, badger-baiting, Scrabble - because, by day, we are required to be unremittingly smiley. We accentuate the positive; this holiday will relax you, this drink is delicious, this pension will allow you to feel secure in your old age. And, in addition, the subtext is; this holiday will repair your relationship, this drink will make your kids love you, this pension will make you happy. As long as those messages are not explicit you will not break the ASA codes.

Which brings me to the second of the advertisers making the news. Glossy cinema ads are being run for church-backed Alpha Courses. These feature three celebrity over-achievers - a footballer, a model and a mountaineer - doing their thing and then turning to camera to pose the question, "Is there more to life than this?". There's then a caption that says "Explore the meaning of life" and the website details. I'll add no more in case you suspect I am using this column to sell Alpha Courses to you surreptitiously. It could just as easily have been a message from the Flying Spaghetti Monster. You can see where I'm going here. It's tautology to say that all religious beliefs are a matter of faith, but how come it's OK for them to advertise when I am not aware of any substantiation for Christianity's, and every other religion's, claims that could get anywhere close to what Boots provided?

Underpinning all advertising regulation are the principles of "Legality, Decency, Honesty and Truthfulness". But "religions, faiths and systems of belief" have to jump through further hoops. They are forbidden from using advertising to present their doctrine or to try to persuade anyone to change their faith. They are unable to use personal testimony or to denigrate another religion. They cannot provoke fear or offer counselling or appeal to children. The code is resolutely even-handed when it comes to "systems of faith" but it does forbid advertising for anything to do with the occult or psychic phenomena. The ASA must have to make some fine distinctions there.

But all religions are permitted to publicise events, as long as these are free and open to anyone. And on that basis, it is legal to run ads about Alpha Courses. The ads themselves make no unsubstantiated claims, and what might be claimed later is beyond the jurisdiction of advertising regulation. More tangible products, like Boots' Anti-cellulite Balm, are subject to Trading Standards and other consumer protection law once they have been bought. There is no equivalent for the ideologies that people buy into, be they religious or political.